Pastel on Supertooth paper   27 X 60 cm 

The cheetah is one of the most beautiful of the big cats and one of my favourites. Observation in the wild has taught me why cheetahs are so extremely cautious in their day-to-day existence. This pastel painting shows clearly the shy and retiring nature of cheetahs....a smart thing given they are hunted and killed by many large cats such as leopards and lions as well as hyenas, The larger aggressive predators will not only kill them but steal their prey and eat their babies. Because of this cheetah have an extremely high mortality rate and when combined with a limited genetic diversity the future for them looks fairly bleak.

Cheetah hunt only in the daytime and have poor night vision but this also means they avoid most of the big predators who hunt in darkness. They prefer to hunt in open grassy areas where their blinding sprint speed of 100-120kmh can be used to full effect but this also puts them in direct competition with farmers who want them open grassy plains for their livestock.

Once found all across Africa throughout central Asia and into India the cheetah is now estimated to be around 6500 in number left in the wild. If they are to survive the ravages humans have inflicted, we must move fast to support conservation efforts in the field